


a perpetual shadow of a smile

by chipsandwaffles



Category: ASTRO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Library, Fluff, M/M, is that even an alternate universe....., whatever
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-01
Updated: 2016-12-01
Packaged: 2018-08-30 22:40:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,833
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8551954
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chipsandwaffles/pseuds/chipsandwaffles
Summary: Minhyuk thinks the guy behind the front desk at the library is like the sun shining through the clouds, like getting an extra piece of chicken in his lunch when he's had a bad day, like getting told he was cute.He's what Minhyuk likes to call happiness.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [summerela](https://archiveofourown.org/users/summerela/gifts).



> Prompt: Person A works at a library. Person B is the quiet, bookish type, but they have a definite crush on A. Occasionally, they will attempt to flirt with A, to disastrous results, but at one point A leaves a sticky note on the inside cover of a book that B put on hold with their (A’s) phone number on it. What happens next is up to you.  
> A is MJ and B is Rocky
> 
> My child always asking for the most... I'm finally done with this. I don't know what the title is, I just know my kid said it and i liked it?? Lowkey also think I ship mj and rocky 20% more now, and I'm not sure how I feel about that but. I hope you enjoy?

Minhyuk goes to the library for two reasons. 

One, for studying and reading of course. He was a good student, he got things done and had the free time to read books afterwards. He always loved reading a book before he had to head off to dance practice, so going to the library seemed like the most logical thing to do.

The second reason he was there was for the guy who was always behind the counter every day of the week from nine in the morning to five in the afternoon. His best friend likes to call him _stupid_ for hanging out at a place just because he had some crush on some guy behind the front desk. Minhyuk has to remind him every time that he’s hanging out at the library because he likes to read books.

Minhyuk also has to remind him that Bin, his best friend, hangs out at the library to stare at one of the other workers. 

Bin tells him that it’d be impossible not to stare at the cute guy who tripped over himself trying to push in a chair. 

Minhyuk doesn’t respond ever after that, because responding usually led to an argument about how spending time staring at _actual_ cute guys like tripping over a chair guy is different than staring at the less cute front desk guy. 

Minhyuk might be biased, because he thinks front desk guy, Myungjun is his name, is way cuter than tripping over chair guy. 

But Myungjun was something else compared to Bin’s crush. 

Myungjun is like the sun shining through the clouds, like getting an extra piece of chicken in his lunch when he’s having a bad day, like being told he was cute.

He’s what Minhyuk likes to call happiness.

Every day Minhyuk thinks the exact same thing the moment he looks at Myungjun. A smile never fails to spread across his face, especially if Myungjun is looking his way and smiles back as well. His smile is wide and beautiful, something akin to actual sunshine, and if Minhyuk was having a bad day before he sees Myungjun, all of that disappears.

It’s no different today. Minhyuk enters the library, alone thankfully, and walks towards his usual table. He sets his things down, sits down himself, and then looks to the front desk to look at Myungjun. 

He’s sitting there, a book in his hand that Minhyuk knows very well. He recommended that book to Myungjun the first time they talked. Which, was the first time Minhyuk tried to flirt with him.

It didn’t go that well, Minhyuk remembers. 

Minhyuk had been staring at Myungjun nonstop, and Bin was sick of his lovesick friend. He tapped him on the shoulder and dared him to go talk to him, because watching his best friend stare at some random guy was annoying. Minhyuk wasn’t exactly the most social person in the world, so he stumbled up to the front desk with one of his favorite books in hand, placing it on the desk. Myungjun had looked up at him, asked him if he wanted to check it out.

Minhyuk shook his head, opened his mouth once, twice, turned to look at Bin for support (which he didn’t get because Bin was busy staring at the other worker) and then looked back at Myungjun before shaking his head again.

Myungjun had given him a look of confusion, titling his head to the side and quirking an eyebrow. Minhyuk opened his mouth again, tried to talk, but all that would come out was “read book” before he promptly turned on his heel and headed back to his table. He didn’t look at Myungjun again until he was leaving, and there he was, reading the book Minhyuk had told him to read. 

Over the course of a month, Minhyuk tried several more attempts at flirting, some with the help of Bin, but often of his own accord, because he wanted to talk to Myungjun, and if he had been nice enough to read the first book he recommended, he was probably nice enough to entertain Minhyuk’s flirting. 

The second flirting attempt featured another book, that one another of Minhyuk’s favorites. He wasn’t sure that Myungjun would even read it, but he was mostly just hoping to figure out his name at the time, because for some reason the workers at the library didn’t wear nametags (which was why Bin called his guy tripping over chair guy.)

So Minhyuk headed up to the front desk and placed the book down, tearing Myungjun’s attention from whatever he was looking at on his phone. 

“Oh, hey. It’s you again. Are you checking out a book or is this another suggestion?” Minhyuk had shook his head and went over the words he practiced in the mirror that morning before opening his mouth to talk. It was just his luck, because nothing would come out. 

“…a suggestion?” Myungjun had asked. Minhyuk nodded his head. Myungjun had smiled at him and took the book off the desk, and that was the first time Minhyuk had seen his smile. Right there and then he decided he was going to try everything in his power to see that smile for forever. It left him utterly breathless. 

“What’s your name?” Minhyuk had blurted out. Myungjun looked up at him, his smile growing bigger. 

“Myungjun. What’s yours?” 

“Minhyuk.” 

Minhyuk hadn’t gotten anything else but a “nice to meet you” from Myungjun but it was enough for him to stay up later that night planning other ways to flirt and get information out of him. 

The third flirting attempt went alright, until Bin had dragged him out of the library. 

Bin had dared him again to go talk to Myungjun (after a long round of Minhyuk telling Bin how beautiful he was), but Minhyuk didn’t think it was fair to just let his friend slide without any dares back, so he dared Bin to go talk to tripping over chair guy. Bin agreed.

Minhyuk had watched as Bin stood up and went to go talk to him, leaning against a chair as tripping over chair guy cleaned off a table. After he was satisfied with what was happening between them, he stood up to go over to the front desk. That day, he was going to have a conversation with Myungjun. An actual, long one. 

He didn’t have a book prepared, so he was going to have to rely on his own social skills to get him through this. 

That screamed disaster to Minhyuk, but he was determined. 

Myungjun noticed him first, immediately smiling and waving at Minhyuk as he walked over to the front desk. It made butterflies dance in his stomach when that smile was directed towards him. 

“Minhyuk, hi!”

“Hello.”

“Do you have another book recommendation for me?” Minhyuk shook his head, smiling back at Myungjun awkwardly. All the words were caught in his throat again. 

“Oh. Then, are you over here to ask me a question?” Minhyuk shook his head again, and Myungjun chuckled. It was the cutest chuckle Minhyuk had ever heard. “You’re not much of a talker, are you?” 

Minhyuk wanted to tell Myungjun that he was a talker, but Myungjun just made him breathless. Unfortunately, because Myungjun made him breathless it was hard to tell him that exact thing. 

“I have a book suggestion for you,” Myungjun suddenly said. He stepped away from the counter for a moment, digging through his backpack before pulling out a book. 

A children’s book. 

Minhyuk let Myungjun put it in his hands, and as he looked down at it he just got more and more confused. 

“This book reminded me of you. My friend babysat this kid a lot when he was younger and I’d help sometimes, and we used to act out that book for him.”

Minhyuk frowned and looked up at Myungjun. “Do I remind you of a kid?” 

“Huh? No, no! No, it just- ah- no. No, it just made him happy so it reminded me of you because seeing you-

“Minhyuk!” Minhyuk stared at Myungjun, waiting for him to continue, but suddenly there was someone grabbing at his wrist, dragging him out and away from Myungjun. He didn’t want to go, he wanted to hear what else Myungjun had to say. He wanted to hear him talk some more because hearing Myungjun talk was nice and fun and Minhyuk wanted to have fun, not be subjected to whatever Bin wanted to talk about. 

“I hope you enjoy the book!”

Minhyuk decided as he was being dragged out of the library that Myungjun was the sun, because he waved and smiled at Minhyuk so brightly he thought he could’ve gone blind.

“Minhyuk, I have news,” Bin said. Minhyuk was pulled out of his daze of thinking about Myungjun mostly because of the look on Bin’s face. His friend was smiling, taking Minhyuk’s hands into his and swinging them back and forth as he looked at Minhyuk.

The news was that his name was Dongmin, and Bin thought he was the cutest thing in the world because not only did Dongmin trip over chairs, he apparently tripped over his words too. His smile was sweet, his voice was sweet, everything about him was sweet and Bin wanted to ask him on so many dates that when they were old they won the world record of most dates. 

Minhyuk smiled through Bin’s words, because even if Bin was a hypocrite, it made Minhyuk happy.

He hoped him and Myungjun could have the world record for most dates though.

The fourth flirting attempt featured Minhyuk tripping onto the floor. It was a complete and total accident.

Minhyuk had been walking up to the front desk, hoping to give Myungjun some cookies he had made the other night, only to trip over a pushed off chair he hadn’t seen. The cookies spilled everywhere, and Myungjun had laughed from where he sat behind the front desk. 

Minhyuk felt complete and utter embarrassment, but once Myungjun walked around the desk and picked up all the cookies and helped Minhyuk up with a smile, all of that was gone. 

Myungjun’s smile helped with anything.

“You should be more careful,” Myungjun had said, handing the container of cookies back to Minhyuk. Minhyuk looked down at them sadly, half of them broken, and probably gross and too dirty to eat. 

“These were for you…” Minhyuk mumbled out. 

“Really?” Minhyuk nodded his head, and before he knew it one of the cookies were being shoved into Myungjun’s mouth. He let out a content sigh and then proceeded to reach for another, but Minhyuk didn’t want him eating dirty cookies. 

“No! No, don’t eat them-

“But you made them for me.”

“They fell on the floor.”

“Five second rule.” The container was snatched out of Minhyuk’s hands, and he watched as Myungjun went back around the front desk and sat down. He began shoving more cookies into his mouth, grinning at Minhyuk. 

It was disgusting, but it was also endearing as ever. 

Minhyuk promised that he’d make a nicer and cleaner batch for Myungjun the next day. Myungjun ate all of those too, and the smile on his face made Minhyuk feel like he was floating on a cloud. 

The fifth and sixth attempts at flirting were far better, because Myungjun had come over both times to Minhyuk’s table, smiling at him and placing a book in front of him. He told him both times it was a recommendation, and that he had to read them ASAP so they could talk about it.

Bin had come in both times later asking Minhyuk what he was so busy staring at, and then rolled his eyes when he figured it out before putting his attention on Dongmin. 

The seventh attempt was today. 

Minhyuk was going to ask Myungjun on a date. 

He had planned it all last night, practicing in the mirror more than ever just to make It perfect. If it didn’t go perfect; if Myungjun had denied him or if he couldn’t get it out, Minhyuk might not be able to go to the library ever again. 

So, he preps himself, nodding his head in encouragement. He was going to do it today. After almost a month of flirting and staring longingly at Myungjun, he was going to do it. 

He stands up and walks over to the front desk, a book in his hand that was going to be his excuse to have Myungjun’s attention. Myungjun looks up at him when he places it on the desk, a smile on his face immediately when he sees it’s Minhyuk.

“Another recommendation?” Minhyuk shakes his head. 

“I’m checking this out.” Myungjun lets out a surprised ‘oh’ before taking the book away from Minhyuk. Minhyuk is about to open his mouth to continue what he wants to say, but is interrupted by someone behind him calling his name. 

“Minhyuk?” He turns around, frowning, because the person who interrupted him is interrupting him from asking Myungjun out. He sees Dongmin, curious eyes and a small smile on his face as he waits for a response. 

“Yes?”

“Can I talk to you for a second?” Minhyuk isn’t a mean person, so he steps away from the front desk, following Dongmin a few steps away so they’re out of earshot from Myungjun. It was Dongmin, the guy his best friend had been crushing on; he couldn’t just _not_ give him his attention for a few seconds. His confession to Myungjun would have to wait. 

“What is it?” Minhyuk asks. He hopes he doesn’t sound irritated. 

“Binnie isn’t here with you today?” Minhyuk squints at the nickname, especially since he’s never heard Bin mention that Dongmin calls him that. He wonders when they got close enough for nicknames. 

“No, I’m alone. He told me he wasn’t coming today,” Minhyuk says. The smile falls from Dongmin’s face, and he nods his head in understanding at him. 

“Ah… How unfortunate. I was going to ask him out today.”

Minhyuk’s eyes widen, and a smile spreads across his face before he’s stepping towards Dongmin a little more. “You’re going to ask Bin out?”

“I was… But he’s not here.”

“I can give you his number.” 

“Will he be okay with that?” Minhyuk smile gets even bigger. Of course Bin would be okay with Dongmin having his number, especially when Bin has been crushing on him for a while now. Minhyuk finds his number in his phone and hands it off to Dongmin, who quickly enters it into his own phone. 

“Thank you, Minhyuk. I appreciate your help.” 

Minhyuk watches as Dongmin walks off. He’s done a good thing for his friend, he’s sure. 

Now the next step was doing something for himself. He turns around and looks to the front desk, but, unfortunately, Myungjun isn’t there. Someone else, someone Minhyuk has never seen before is standing there. 

Minhyuk rushes over to the desk, looking around a little trying to spot Myungjun. Words quickly come out of his mouth, faster than ever before and the other worker laughs a little. 

“Dude, I can’t understand anything you just said. Talk slower.”

“Myungjun- where did he go?” Minhyuk asks. 

“Oh. Took his break. Are you Minhyuk? He asked me to give this to you when you got back to the desk.” Minhyuk is handed the book he was checking out earlier, and he frowns sadly at it. He missed his chance to talk to Myungjun. How was he going to talk to him when his plan was already ruined?

Minhyuk heads back over to his table, slumping down his seat. He was disappointed, because he’d probably have to go through several more failed attempts at flirting before he could work up the courage to try to ask Myungjun out again. 

He sighs, and decides he might as well distract himself. He opens up the book he checked out, and upon opening it he sees a sticky note on the inside. 

Minhyuk can’t breathe. On the note, the note that is signed with Myungjun’s name with cute, neat handwriting is his number, along with a few words. 

_‘Dongmin is lame. Text me instead?’_

Minhyuk quickly takes out his phone and punches in Myungjun’s number, sending a text immediately asking Myungjun where he is. His leg starts bouncing and a smile spreads across his face as he waits for a reply. 

His phone vibrates in his hand two minutes later, Myungjun telling him he’s outside on the front steps of the library. A short moment later, he asks Minhyuk to join him. Another moment after, Myungjun tells him it can be a date. If he wants. 

Minhyuk has never wanted anything more in his life. 

He rushes outside after gathering his stuff, and there Myungjun is, staring at the doors as if he’s been waiting for Minhyuk to come out. Minhyuk is reminded of the feeling he gets whenever he sees Myungjun. 

Happiness.


End file.
